WHAT CHANGED?

• Reporting: from three-weeks or more to a five-day month-end

• Team culture: from toxic behaviours to ‘laughing, joking, working really hard’

• Her time: from constant interruptions to two protected focus days a week

• Her CEO: now sees her as his CFO and a real partner

Sophie and I first met over coffee. She was new to her CFO role and had already talked to a couple of other coaches without feeling a connection. She told me later what made the difference that morning.

‘When we met for coffee and talked through some of the things I was being challenged with at the time, I just felt you got it. I felt confident you could help me through some of the challenges I was going through. It’s hard to describe, but it just felt like we would work well together.’

When the role isn’t the one you were sold

What Sophie described over that coffee was a very different role from the one she had accepted.

‘During the recruitment process there were probably little things alluded to, but not explicitly. Certainly nothing was mentioned about the team culture and the absolutely horrendous toxic behaviours. Basically everything that could have possibly needed to be fixed did need to be fixed: team behaviour, team culture, controls, processes, reporting. I didn’t even know where to start.’

I hear versions of this often. Many executives, particularly first-timers, find a gap between the role they were promised and the one they walk into, and few talk about it, because there is no one safe to tell.

High standards can make the early months harder

Sophie holds herself to very high standards, and that made those months tougher.

‘I was feeling quite overwhelmed. I’m very keen to make progress and show progress, and that was the thing I struggled with the most, going into our board meetings and feeling like I hadn’t really achieved a whole lot. That’s not the feedback I was getting, because people told me they understood what I was dealing with.’

When everything needs fixing, start with people

Our first sessions were about sequence: what had to come first when so much was broken. Sophie landed on culture, the right people in the right roles and a team structure that gave everyone clarity about their job.

‘Until you’ve got that sorted out, you’re not going to make good progress in any other area. Working through it with you, being outside the business and not knowing all the personalities, was really helpful. We methodically worked through how we could tackle each of these things.’

Decide your line before the hard conversation

Team behaviour came to a head. Sophie decided to sit her team down, take them through the code of conduct and be very clear about what was and wasn’t acceptable. Before she did, she made a decision about herself.

‘Right, if this doesn’t change, I cannot work in this environment anymore. That’s just not healthy. This is the last possible thing I can try, and if people choose not to get on board with how we want to behave in this team, then that’s it for me.’

We planned the conversation together, including how different people might react. Then she went and had it.

‘I felt like I was giving a lecture in a lecture theatre, almost reading the riot act. Afterwards I thought, I cannot actually believe I just did that. But I had people come to me and say thank you. It actually landed really well. I think it was very genuine and landed how I hoped it would land.’

Having already decided what she would do if nothing changed meant Sophie could speak plainly, and her team heard it as genuine rather than harsh.

Look at what is eating your time before you look at your hours

An overseas holiday forced a break Sophie wouldn’t otherwise have taken. ‘It was like a real circuit breaker. I just did not see how out of control everything had got around work-life balance. Coming back, I was very clear with myself that I was not going to get into that position again.’

Each day she now sets one top priority, and when a day doesn’t go to plan she asks why. A pattern showed up quickly: time she had blocked out for her own work was being swallowed by work that reached her unfinished.

‘I’ve blocked out a couple of hours to write a board paper, and then I’ve had to stop and go back and clarify and check. Something that should take a couple of hours dragged out to the better part of the whole day.’

So she set clear expectations about timing and deliverables, and made accountability explicit for team members who had never been empowered in their roles. ‘Please do not assume that if you copy me on an email with a six-page report attached, and there’s something buried in there I need to see, I’m going to open it and find it. You need to highlight these things.’

Protecting your time is good for your team too

We talked about one focus day a week. Sophie took two.

‘On those days I keep my calendar clear, set an agenda for my day and stay really focused. I’ve said there might be delays responding to emails and messages. That’s landed really well, because I was being constantly interrupted, and that people-pleaser tendency meant the only time I had to progress my own work was outside work hours. I’d almost dread someone coming to ask me a question, because I knew I didn’t have time to deal with it. Now when someone comes to talk to me, I’m not feeling stressed.’

Where things are now

At the last month end, Sophie’s team reported in five days, down from three or sometimes four weeks. ‘Which is unheard of and very exciting.’

‘The culture is just so, so different. People are laughing, joking, working really hard and getting things done, but having fun while doing it. We’re celebrating successes and wins.’

The CEO now sees her as his CFO and a real partner, which took time to earn. She reckons she has gained about five years of development in a few months.

Where coaching made the biggest difference

I asked Sophie where coaching made the biggest difference.

‘It was having someone in my corner. It just made me feel comfortable and confident continuing on. Being able to talk through those things with you, you challenging those thoughts and helping me get some perspective, that was incredibly valuable. And reinforcing that other people are dealing with some of those things too, because unless you know someone really well, you don’t hear about other people going through those challenges.’

She had also put pressure on herself early on to arrive at each session with a topic. ‘You said to me, “Don’t worry. We’ll just work through whatever you need to work through at the time.” I could literally talk about what was going on, and we’d unwind it, unpick it and work through some strategies or a plan.’

SOPHIE’S ADVICE TO ANYONE IN THEIR FIRST EXECUTIVE ROLE: